In recent days, there is an increasing demand for constructing a system running an OS with a RAID apparatus in an SAN environment using a fibre channel card in a server, along with trends toward diskless servers and disaster recovery for the servers. In this specification, SAN stands for Storage Area Network, RAID stands for Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks, and OS stands for Operating System.
An SAN boot under the SAN environment is described next. The SAN boot is a function of running (hereinafter, also referred to as booting) the OS on a server with a RAID apparatus connected to the server via a fibre channel not with a built-in disk of the server. The fibre channel card in a system environment having a function of the SAN boot has a boot code for enabling an OS boot from a RAID apparatus connected to the fibre channel card. In this case, in order to enable the OS boot from the RAID apparatus in the server, an operator previously stores information related to the RAID apparatus to be connected using the boot code and the boot code in the fibre channel card using firmware. The information related to the RAID apparatus is, for example, a World Wide Name (WWN) of the RAID apparatus, and Target ID information, topology information, and Link Speed information of the disk of the RAID apparatus.
In the specification, the boot code is a program for reading OS data from a storage device such as a RAID apparatus connected to an outside of the server and booting the server. In the specification, a driver is a program for controlling the fibre channel card operated on the server. Further, the fibre channel is one of data transfer methods for connecting a computer and a peripheral device. The fibre channel is used to transfer a serial Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) protocol. Link Speed designates a transfer speed of the fibre channel. PCI-Express designates a bus of the server used to connect an interface card for a connection with the peripheral device. RAID designates a device for controlling plural disks and providing a storage resource. SAN designates a network for connecting a storage device such as a RAID or tape library. Topology designates a connection mode of a fibre channel such as AL_PA loop connection and an N_Port switch connection.
WWN designates a unique address code of 8 bytes used in fibre channel communication, and is given to an apparatus connected to the fibre channel. A system monitoring mechanism designates a system for monitoring and controlling the server. The built-in disk is a basic disk for storing OS data in the server. Target ID is a logical ID for identifying the disk.
These are disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-66216, and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-164305.